The second partner meeting of project REACT – Refugee Engagement And integration through Community Theatre (Creative Europe Programme) took place in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) on 30– 31 March 2017 on the special occasion of the triennial International Community Arts Festival – ICAF, which added extraordinary echoes to the partners’ encounter.
The meeting, therefore, could be said to have simultaneously achieved dual purposes: project progress sharing and substantial community outreach. During the first day, the three partners carefully went through project implementation matters in each partner’s country, specifically regarding the start of theatrical workshops involving refugees, exchanging experiences in handling issues that frequently arose during the implementation of such workshops.
The meeting’s highlight happened the second day when the project team enjoyed a rare chance to organize a seminar with ICAF’s audience to present REACT and share practical working experiences. Being the first ranked project in the 2016’s Creative Europe Call, the demand for attending the seminar was such that the event was split up in two consecutive sessions in order to admit all the attendees. The seminar was opened with a short performance by three young Syrians that in a few minutes brought the audience back to their life-changing journey from the war-torn Syria to Rotterdam.
Spectators were particularly interested in the partners’ three different approaches of developing creative products, which are:
- theatre games and exercises for English language learning (acta’s),
- Pop-up theatre (RWT’s),
- Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (CSC Danilo Dolci’s).
The third and last partner meeting is scheduled for June 22 – 23, 2017 in Palermo (Italy), during which a seminar with local cultural associations and refugee agencies will also be held.
REACT is a 2-year project funded by the Creative Europe Programme – Support for Refugees’ Integration projects.
REACT partnership is composed by 3 organizations which have different but complementary expertise both in the social and artistic field:
- Acta Community Theatre ltd (United Kingdom) – Coordinator
- Stichting Rotterdams Wijktheater (The Netherlands)
- Centro Per Lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci (Italy)
For further information on the project, you can read the Info sheet of the project, follow our FB page, or contact marta.orozco@danilodolci.org.